Pentagon Travel Service Too Costly, Senator Says

Northrop Grumman Corp.’s almost $500-million Defense Travel System, an online hotel- and airline-booking service for Pentagon employees, is four years behind schedule, over budget and not cost-effective, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) said.

The travel reservation and management system, scheduled to be in place by 2002, is being used at about half of the Defense Department’s 11,000 locations, Coleman said. Northrop said the program would save $178 million in productivity costs and $56 million in “real dollars” each year when fully deployed in 2007. Coleman said he doubted those predictions.